Corporate Facilitators

Our Corporate Facilitators

Ella McQuinn

Board Member

Ella McQuinn is a business coach and management consultant with a special interest in working with organizations focused on sustainable and people- focused strategies. She has extensive experience in tourism planning and marketing across Canada and Eastern US and more recently has been working in a variety of sectors with business leaders committed to change. She is Chair of the St. Margaret's Bay Stewardship Association focused on building a strong quality of life, sustainable community development and coastal management, including protecting islands in the bay. She has been on the Sea School board since 2004 having previously consulted with the organization. She has also seen the remarkable impact the Sea School has first hand as the parent of a participant. Ella can attest to the profound and positive impact life at sea aboard the Dorothea with trusted instructors and crew can have on the life of a young person. Her own passion extends to the sea having grown up in a sailing family in Nova Scotia.

Heather Kelday

Executive Director

After a 15 year long voyage working in the fields of experiential and outdoor education, Heather is still pushing the boundaries of her own journey as she joins the ranks of the Sea School as Executive Director. Heather spent her adolescence and teenage years at a summer camp in Ontario where she taught sailing, windsurfing and a variety of other outdoor pursuits. She credits her leadership style to the highly effective program her camp offered her to gain teaching skills, resilience, management skills and much more. . “Camp is about community . . . based in an outdoor environment and comprised mostly of youth . . . it helps young people find their voice and use it in preparation for their pursuits in adult life.”

This experience led her to pursue a career in outdoor recreation and she attended Lakehead University where in addition to mastering a variety of technical skills in paddling, climbing, hiking and winter travel, she also obtained a Honours Bachelor of Outdoor Recreation and a Bachelor of Natural Science. After obtaining her degrees, Heather entered the adult world working with her passion for musical performance and environmental education. She married these two loves and spent time traveling throughout Canada songwriting and working with youth around environmental issues.

Most recently Heather obtained her Bachelors of Education and moved to Nova Scotia in 2003 to establish a family in the Gaspereau Valley. She joined the Nova Scotia Sea School in 2007 and has worked as Program Coordinator and Instructor. She is excited to continue to nurture the organization and make experiential education accessible for everyone.

Richard Leckenby

Captain and Head Wilderness Instructor

As a child Richard always wanted to sail but opportunities were limited or non existent. As a teenager Richard immersed himself in river and mountain travel. When studying to become a teacher he explored ways of connecting school subjects to the natural world of land and oceans. He believes that high on a mountain peak or walking along a beach are unique places to explore the world around us and the impact humans have had on this ocean planet.

Eventually in the middle of the mountains in Northern England Richard crewed on a dinghy in a snow storm and he was hooked! Richard has instructed sailing, canoeing, mountaineering and wilderness skills in the UK and Canada, and became a Sea School instructor after the school's first instructor training course in 1995.

The impact of being with teenagers on a small open boat off Nova Scotia, or the winter wilderness, woods should not be underestimated. Richard feels privileged to see inner understanding; compassion and joy develop in the faces and eyes of his fellow crew and travelers whenever he does a Sea School trip. He believes in the Sea School because as an organization, we have worked hard to achieve our mission and provide opportunities to teenagers and adults from the full economic, social and cultural backgrounds represented in Nova Scotia and the word beyond.

Crane Stookey

Founder and Captain

Crane grew up by the water in New York and Massachusetts, sailing and rowing small wooden boats. Being near water always makes him happy. He discovered as an adult that being around teenagers makes him happy too. So in 1994 he combined these joys with the aspiration to do something useful and founded the Nova Scotia Sea School.

Crane has a Masters of Architecture degree from Harvard University and practiced architecture in Boston for 8 years. In 1990 he took time off to pursue his interest in the study and practice of meditation, intending to return to his practice and a list of waiting clients.

However Crane returned, not to his architectural practice, but to his childhood love of wooden boats and sailing. He served as deck officer and seamanship instructor on tall ships in the US and Canada, including HMS ROSE, PRIDE OF BALTIMORE II, CORWITH CRAMER and others, and earned his US Master¹s license as captain of sailing vessels up to 200 gross tons.

In 1994 he settled in Halifax, the best move of his life. He says that Nova Scotia is a sane and decent place, and that his life has really blossomed since moving here, and that the Sea School is the fruit of it.

In 2003 Crane was awarded the Queen's Jubilee Medal for the Sea School's contribution to the Canadian community.

Zoë Nudell

Captain

Zoë has been sailing with the Nova Scotia Sea School since its first year. She was part of the crew that built Dorothea, the Sea School's first expedition boat, and sailed as a student on the Dorothea's maiden voyage out of Halifax. Eight years later Zoë guided the second expedition boat - Elizabeth Hall - through her maiden voyage, this time as an assistant instructor. This past summer was Zoë's fifth season as expedition captain. A lifetime of working with young people and the sea has instilled in Zoë confidence, enthusiasm, respect and admiration for other people and the elements. The most valuable learning - the one she most wants to share - is an awareness of one's own abilities, interests, and the satisfaction of being engaged.

Zoë's passion for leading sailing expeditions is matched by a love of art and encouraging creativity. Currently, she is very excited about working with the Sea School to explore the transformative power of creativity with community groups. Zoë has shown her art internationally; she completed her BSc. in Environmental Studies and Philosphy at the University of Toronto; and her Master of Arts in Atlantic Canada Studies at St. Mary's University.

Colin Guthrie

Captain

Over the last 18 years Colin has worked in the general area of health and human performance, specifically in the areas of leadership development and executive coaching, human factors and assistive technology, professional sport, sport psychology and experiential education. His focus is to coach elite performers in business or sport and lead them to deliver high performance under pressure and on demand. Colin has conducted research on the comparisons between novice and expert performers, the similarities between coaching elite athletes and senior business leaders, and the psychological make-up of professional sailors who compete in around-the-world sailing races.

In 2008, after spending time in the United States to finish his education and compete on the sailing circuit in the Etchell Class, Colin returned home to Nova Scotia with a vision to apply his knowledge and insight into developing a stronger and more vibrant business community in Atlantic Canada.

Colin earned a Ph.D. in Behavioural Studies/Kinesiology and a Graduate Certificate in Disability Studies from Temple University in Philadelphia (2008), and completed a Bachelor of Science and Master’s of Science in Kinesiology (Health and Human Performance) from Dalhousie University in Halifax. In addition, Colin holds an adjunct faculty position at Dalhousie University.

Colin’s recent clients in leadership development include Nova Scotia Power, Bangor Hydro and Electric, Nautel Ltd, Highliner Foods, First On Site Restoration, and the Canadian Sailing Team.

Colin volunteers his time with disability advocacy groups and remains active in the local sailing community. He promotes sailing at the grass roots level through club programs as well as not-for-profit organizations such as the Nova Scotia Sea School.

Colin resides in the Halifax area and enjoys an active lifestyle with his wife and two young children.